Re: Spoiled Reward-Pathway Hypothesis

From: Philip Jonkers (P.A.E.Jonkers@phys.rug.nl)
Date: Mon Aug 20 2001 - 15:11:18 BST

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From: Philip Jonkers <P.A.E.Jonkers@phys.rug.nl>
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To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Spoiled Reward-Pathway Hypothesis
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Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2001 16:11:18 +0200 (CEST)
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    Philip:
    > > Natural selection ought to favor birds who aren't drunk
    > an
    > > entire season. I am well aware also that drugs (including alcohol)
    > are
    > > not uncommon for usage in the animal kingdom. I cannot imagine,
    > > really, that natural selection would allow for animal `druggies' to
    > > emerge and maintain in the extremely competitive and demanding
    > natural
    > > world.
    Joe:
    > It's a cost-benefit analysis; when fermented barries are the only (or
    > the major) source of food available, the collateral damage some
    > drunken birds do to themselves could be much less than the
    > massive die-off afflicting starving flocks. Of course, selection
    > pressures would progressively weed out those birds unable to
    > handle their liquor, the ones who could handle it would live to
    > reproduce, and subsequent generations would find the equation
    > more and more in favor of the berry-eating stoners.

    Hi Joe, thanks also for the feedback. Fair enough, natural selection seems
    to favor the sober animal and permits the occasional user. So much
    for the animal kingdom, I'm still left with humans who, I think it's
    safe to say, generally are susceptible to develop addiction of whatever kind.
    Can you account for this with arguments ignoring human culture?

    Philip.

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